Denis Lynch earns fifth in World Cup thriller in Madrid

Denis Lynch and All Star 5 delivered two faultless jumping rounds to claim fifth place in this afternoon’s thrilling Longines FEI World Cup contest in Madrid.

In a nine-way jump-off, Germany’s Marcus Ehning outfoxed his rivals with a tight turn that saw him get inside what looked like being the winning time by Kevin Staut of France.

It was another German, Ludger Beerbaum, who had produced the first clear with Casello when fourth of the nine finalists to jump, but his lead was soon bettered by almost four seconds when Staut survived rattling two poles as he dashed home to take what looked like a formidable lead with Aran in 43.98.

Italy’s Lorenzo De Luca then showed that the door was still open when improving the time to 43.79 but with four faults on Ensor de Litrange Lxii.

Ehning was third-last to go and succeeded in carrying off a daring turn on Comme Il Faut to clip 0.42 of a second off Staut’s lead and leave all poles standing, putting the German flag back on top of the leaderboard in 43.56

Second-last in was British rider Scott Brash (Hello M’Lady) who was evidently not settling for a safe clear and managed to haul himself into third place in 44.04 before final rider Lynch left everything intact but did not threaten the leaders on the clock, coming home in 48.17 for fifth place.

In the earlier Coca Cola Trophy at the Spanish venue, Darragh Kenny and Charly Chaplin S took fourth place. Kenny’s time of 49.28 put him in second place briefly in the event behind Germany’s David Will (Mic Mac du Tillard). The Irish rider was then overhauled by Marcus Ehning on Cristy who slotted in behind Will, before Belgium’s Maikel van der Vleuten (VDL Groep Quatro) topped the class in 48.34.